Belgian Pat. No. 802,309, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,852,211 to Ohren, issued Dec. 3, 1974, and 3,862,058, Nirschl et al. issued Jan. 21, 1975, incorporated by reference, describe the use of certain smectite clays in, respectively, built synthetic detergent compositions and curd-dispersant soap-based detergent compositions. The exchangeable cations of the clays described are hydrogen, sodium, potassium, calcium, or magnesium. These clays are effective in products based upon anionic, ampholytic, and zwitterionic detergents, but are much less effective in the presence of significant amounts of nonionic detergents. Of recent years, it is being found more and more that nonionic detergents have special advantages as the active surfactant component of detergent compositions, and there is a need for a fabric-softening agent effective in such compositions.
The Nirschl patent describes the use of long-chain quaternary ammonium salts such as halides with clays wherein it is stated that the clay does not substantially undergo ion exchange with the clays employed in the wash solution.
It has now been found that replacing to a suitable degree the above-mentioned exchangeable metal ions of the clays by relatively short-chained quaternary ammonium ions provides modified, more organophilic, forms of the clays which are effective softeners in the presence of nonionic surfactants.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a detergent composition containing a quaternary ammonium clay. A further object of the invention is to provide an effective clay softener for use with nonionic detergents.